Somerset County Council is the latest local authority in England to ask its pension fund to consider selling out of tobacco stocks. The move follows the introduction last year of new responsibilities on councils to promote public health.

Somerset runs a pension fund with £1.4 billion in assets and £19 million of investment in tobacco companies, including British American Tobacco. In a formal request in November, the council asked its pensions committee to “reconsider its investment policy in relation to the tobacco industry”.

Norfolk County Council commissioned a report into divestment in 2012 ahead of the introduction of the public health duty in April last year. Because divestment would mean foregoing the income from tobacco holdings, possibly to pensioners’ financial detriment, Norfolk concluded it should not sell out without seeking a legal opinion on the matter.

Last autumn, the UK’s national advisory board for council pensions agreed to seek advice from a Queen’s Counsel on what fund trustees’ legal position is when investment policy appears to conflict with councils’ statutory objectives – as in the case of tobacco stocks and public health. Nigel Giffin QC, a public law specialist, was due to be approached for this advice at the end of last month. British American Tobacco couldn’t immediately be contacted.

However, the company has previously said: “Many commentators would point at our strong financial performance in recent years as a reason why our shares are considered an attractive buy for pension funds.”

Somerset’s pensions committee has not yet discussed its parent council’s request on tobacco investments, a spokesman said last Friday.